Deal Not So Sweet, Some Say

Sugar Company's Bid To Lure Biotech Park Encounters Skepticism.

July 21, 2004|By Prashant Gopal Staff Writer

Florida Crystals wants to replace 15,000 acres of sugar crops in far western Palm Beach County with a Boca Raton-size city anchored by Scripps Florida.

But the idea, which the sugar giant floated for the first time this week, was immediately panned by environmentalists and County Commission Chairwoman Karen Marcus, who said the proposal would spoil the environment and residents' quality of life.

They were unimpressed by the Fanjul family's offer to set aside about 3,000 acres for Everglades restoration and create a "smart growth green community," which would be self-sufficient, with its own houses, schools and offices.

The project would be built in the massive Everglades Agricultural Area southeast of Lake Okeechobee where county officials say development is now limited to farmhouses and other agricultural dwellings.

"It is the most destructive development proposal we've seen in recent years in Palm Beach County," said Lisa Interlandi of the Environmental & Land Use Law Center. "We joked about the Everglades Agricultural Area being the only site worse than Mecca Farms. Now our worst fears are coming true."

The county had planned to build the project on the 1,900-acre Mecca Farms orange grove. But county commissioners -- concerned about traffic, the environment and the cost of extending roads and utilities to the remote farm -- are considering five alternate sites, including the Florida Crystals property. The other sites are: downtown Riviera Beach; the Palm Beach Park of Commerce; the Briger tract across Donald Ross Road from Abacoa; and Parcel 19 northwest of the intersection of Indiantown Road and Florida's Turnpike.

Marcus said a study of the sites is expected to be done by the first or second week of August. She said she made it clear to the sugar company that she would not support development on the site.

Florida Crystals has offered to give the county 1,000 acres and sell another 1,000 acres for the Scripps-anchored research park.

"I hope the board didn't put wind in their sails by agreeing to keep the site in the rankings," Marcus said.

Crystals officials said the project would benefit the environment because it would include flowing wetlands linking the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area to the north with the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge to the south. Homes, offices and stores would be clustered on the site allowing for open space.

"The development would help pay for the environmental restoration projects," said Gaston Cantens, Florida Crystals vice president.

Traffic from the site would be limited because residents would live near their jobs, Cantens said.

Audubon activist Rosa Durando said she has angered other environmentalists by remaining open to the proposal. Durando said she wants to meet with the landowner to find out whether the project would help the Everglades restoration.

Durando said she's frustrated by recent governmental decisions that have undermined the restoration effort and has decided to take a more pragmatic approach.

"Do you seriously think Fanjul or Joe Blow will stay in agriculture? Do you seriously think so?" Durando said. "I'm disillusioned, disappointed and not naive anymore."

Critics say the county commissioners opened the way for growth in the western lands by granting special exceptions for individual projects, making it difficult for them to deny proposals from neighboring landowners.

The county is changing development rules to allow the Scripps research park to be built on Mecca Farms. The commissioners also struck a deal with Palm Beach Aggregates that would allow the landowner to build about 2,000 homes -- instead of 120 -- on its 1,200-acre tract.

Owners of Callery-Judge, an orange grove a few miles south of Mecca, also want to be allowed to build a giant community of houses, shops and offices and hoped to land Scripps. County officials expect other landowners to bring forward projects, too.

Prashant Gopal can be reached at pgopal@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6602.